Missing Scene: Sniper Zero
by MizDenton
Summary: What probably happened after Don learned who took Charlie out into the field and into the sniper's sights.


Missing Scene from Sniper Zero  
by Amy Denton

"If you ever do something that colossally stupid again, I will have your badge and you will be gone! You got that!" Special Agent Don Eppes voice could be heard clearly out in the bullpen, even though the door to the conference room was shut. Well, it wasn't completely shut, it had been left open just a crack and now, whether by chance or design, the entire office was witness to the major butt chewing Special Agent David Sinclair was receiving "What would EVER possess you to take a civilian out to a crime in progress, especially a crime that involved a sniper!"

Agent Sinclair's response was inaudible, Agent Eppes response was not.

"I don't care if the President of the United States told you take him. He's a civilian! He has no business being out there! Did you miss the classes on how to work with civilians at the Academy?" Agent Eppes, Don, when he wasn't breathing fire, continued.

"No, sir." Agent Sinclair, David when he wasn't being chewed out, replied.

"Are you sure!"

"Yes, sir."

Charlie Eppes, Don's brother, came into the office in the midst of the butt-chewing. Still shaken by his all-too-close brush with death, he would have given anything to sink into a nice, complicated mathematical equation, emerging only when he felt ready to deal with the world again. He couldn't though. He had something else to do first.

"In all my years of working for the Bureau, I have NEVER seen such gross incompetence!" Don's voice, if possible, was getting louder.

Charlie winced when he heard his brother's voice. He was too late to corral Don and keep him from ripping David into shreds. His next best chance was Terry Lake, Don's second-in-command.

"I can't understand how such an intelligent, sane agent would do something so..." Don's voice trailed off. He had run out of things to say.

"Terri, can I talk to Don for a moment?" Charlie asked, coming up to her desk.

Terri eyed him over the stack of paperwork on her desk. "Now's not a good time, Charlie."

"What would've happened if Edgerton hadn't taken the guy out? Did you think about that? Would YOU have told the family their loved was dead!"

Charlie swallowed but pushed on. "It's my fault. I'm the reason David's getting yelled at. If I could just talk to Don for a moment, I could make him understand. I talked David into taking me out there. I'm the one who should be getting chewed out."

"Were you even thinking, at all?"

Terri stood, went over to the conference room and shut the door completely. She came back to Charlie and perched on the edge of her desk. She cocked her head and studied him for a moment before saying "Don is completely within his rights to reprimand David."

"But, I..." Charlie started to say.

Terri held up her hand and interrupted him. "Listen to me, the federal government spent a lot of time, money and effort to train David. Part of that training is supposed to keep him from doing what he just did. You're a civilian, Charlie; you shouldn't hav been out there. You could've been killed."

"I just wanted to get a better fix on my calculations. I wasn't going to be that long."

Terri almost smiled. "I'm sure that's what you intended but I know you. And I know that you were probably in your own little world, completely oblivious to what was going on around you. The sniper was just waiting for someone like you to step into his sights. Do you have any idea of what the human head looks like after being struck by a high-velocity bullet? It's not a pretty sight. It kinda looks like a watermelon that's been thrown off a three story building."

Charlie turned a pale shade of green as his imagination painted the lurid picture that Terri's words conjured up.

"And what I just described almost happened to his," she pointed at the conference room "little brother because an agent under his command did not do what he was supposed to do. Yeah, Don's completely within his rights. David's a federal agent; you shouldn't be able to talk him into anything."

Charlie gulped. This was one of those unpleasant times when his world and Don's world collided with his world coming out on the losing end. How many more times would this happen before he decided that enough was enough?

The door to conference room snapped open and a severely chastised David came out and went straight to his desk. Don, still hopping mad, followed him.

He laid eyes on Charlie and snapped "What are you doing here?"

Charlie's mouth opened and closed but no sound came out.

"He wanted to know how you were doing." Terri supplied.

"I'd be a whole lot better if he'd listen once in a while and stop putting himself in harm's way." Don replied, before walking back into the conference room and shutting the door.

Terri looked from the closed door to Charlie and back to the closed door but all she could offer him was a look of sympathy.

He sighed and shook his head. "Don't worry about. He'll calm down eventually."


End file.
